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We know what the Internet is doing for us, at least in terms of communication and access to prodigious amounts of information. But what is it doing to us?
Are we communicating less by substituting e-mailed one-liners for serious discussions with our colleagues? Are we relying too much on quick and easy access to Web pages instead of doing labor-intensive research? Is the American political process being helped or hindered by the communications revolution?
And in the aftermath of mischief by vandals who temporarily shut down a host of major Web sites in February, can we trust this new technology?
Probably every major university in the world has at least a few folks pondering those questions. Technology is evolving so rapidly and involves so many different arenas that any speculation is a bit risky. After all, how many people saw the Internet coming just a couple of decades ago?
But out of all the hype and confusion, one fact is indisputable, according to Bruce Bimber, director of the newly established Center for Information Technology and Society at UC Santa Barbara: More people have access to more information, more quickly and at less cost than at any other time in history.
Bimber is a former electrical engineer with roots in Silicon Valley who decided in the early '80s that he wanted to study what the computer revolution means for society, rather than contribute...